Ahn Cheol-soo: "President Moon sees himself as an 'absolute good'... Lee Jae-myung is 'populism for votes'"

Ahn Cheol-soo, Leader of the People Party / Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] Ahn Cheol-soo, leader of the People’s Party, evaluated President Moon Jae-in by saying, "He sees everything in terms of good and evil because the distinction between good and evil is very clear to him," and added, "He has a very deeply rooted belief that he is absolutely good."

On the 2nd, Ahn appeared on the Chosun Ilbo YouTube channel and, when asked about President Moon, said, "There probably aren’t many people who have talked with him as much as I have personally," and stated this. He mentioned, "(President Moon) actually doesn’t have his own opinion on many issues, so he listens quietly, but on some issues, no matter how anyone thinks, he never changes his mind."

Ahn also quoted a line from the drama "Vincenzo," which says, "Corrupt people think they are competent but others are incompetent," and said, "Ah, I even thought that this drama might get canceled under this government because of using such lines."

At this occasion, there was also an evaluation of Lee Jae-myung, governor of Gyeonggi Province and a leading presidential candidate from the ruling party. Ahn said, "He has the ability to speak very directly and timely about what the public wants," but criticized, "It is really worrisome to give out money without considering the financial situation. It’s called populism, but it’s 'vote-selling-ism'."

Regarding Yoon Seok-youl, former Prosecutor General and a presidential candidate from the People Power Party, Ahn pointed out as strengths "his will and appearance of overcoming oppression even in difficult situations, and his belief in fairness," but evaluated that "his philosophy or concrete ideas for leading the government have not yet been revealed."

Meanwhile, about the background of the failed merger with the People Power Party, he said, "(The People’s Party side) did not demand any shares at all. From the beginning, we said that the party leader and leadership would resign," and added, "We gave up a very large share from the start. We proposed that the 29 district party chairpersons be jointly appointed and then compete to select one person based on ability."

He added, "It failed because, rather than synergy from integration, the support base did not expand, making it difficult to achieve the great goal of regime change," and "Even now, the fact that regime change must happen has not changed."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.